Cop 'arrests' teen for having sex with daughter

A San Jose police officer who staged a fake arrest is in very real trouble. He did it apparently to put a little parental fear into his step-daughter's boyfriend.

This is causing some embarrassment on both sides. For police, it's an internal issue that's now in the public eye and it questions the parenting skills applied when two minors are caught having sex.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, this all started when a San Jose motorcycle cop, who's the step-father of a 14-year-old girl, decided to scare the girl's 15-year-old boyfriend to keep him from having sex with her.

According to the boy's parents, the officer pulled up to their house in full uniform, told the boy he was going to arrest him for sexual assault and threw the cuffs on him.

He later took the cuffs off and left with a warning, but the boy's parents complained, claiming the officer abused his power.

ABC7 legal analyst Dean Johnson says while the officer actually had the authority to arrest the boy for statutory rape, this is a gray area.

"If it's not technically a crime, if it's not say assault under color of authority, at the very least it was an unwise move. Any time a police officer is personally involved in the case where a relative or close friend is a complaining witness or a party to the case in any way, the best practice would be for the police officer to refer it to another investigator," said Johnson.

After the parents complained, police arrested the boy for real and charged him with having unlawful sex with a minor.

The Mercury News also reports that the officer's step-daughter was also cited for having sex with a minor.

Tuesday night, the officer's lawyer Terry Bowman said, "The officer was essentially invited to use 'scare straight' tactics and there were no objections to the lecture or the handcuffing. Everything was done in the spirit of reaching a troubled young man who is heading down the wrong path."

The identities of the adults are being withheld to protect the identities of the minors.

Meanwhile, prosecutors are looking into the possibility of charging the officer with false imprisonment.